Give It A Try
by The-KLF
Summary: "You're askin' me about feelings. Oh boy..." A year after they patched up the boat, the crew of Serenity gently coax their captain into finally revealing his worst-kept secret.
1. It's impossible, said pride

_"It's impossible," said pride.  
"It's risky," said experience.  
"It's pointless," said reason.  
"Give it a try," whispered the heart._

* * *

_Tuesday Morning_

She finally found the captain in the cargo bay, rummaging head first in a crate and periodically handing stuff out to Jayne.

"Mal, could I talk to you, please?" She looked between him and Jayne as he extracted himself, wishing one of them would take the hint.

"Sure," Mal turned to Jayne, "Go see if you can find that other part for Kaylee, it's not in that crate." He nodded and walked off, bits of machinery in his arms. "What can I do for you, Inara?" He put his hands on his hips and flashed her a smile that didn't reach his eyes. She'd been on the receiving end of more and more of those lately.

"I need to know how long we'll be docked in Persephone."

Mal nods brusquely, "Three days at most, hopefully two. You linin' up your suitors?"

"As you know, that's none of your business," she snapped. "And is it two or three days?" A cloud seemed to cover his face and he glanced at the cargo bay floor, looking chastened.

"Three," he muttered. Inara replied with her thanks and strode away, leaving him to stew with his thoughts.

Mal leaned his hands onto the crate, the heavy weight of words unspoken holding him down and propping him up. He tried not to think about it all too much, but if there was one thing he couldn't _not_ think about it was Inara's work. He hated watching her come back from liaisons with rich, charming men he would never be, it ripped him apart and left him bereft inside, and now they were going back to the planet where he'd taken a stand for her, defended her honour, with nothing to show for it except some fading scars. His fingers gripped the metal edge of the crate, knuckles whitening under the pressure, and he sucked in a breath to try to clear his head, but it didn't work. He growled and pushed away from the crate, running towards the steps and along the gangway to her shuttle.

When he burst through the doorway of the shuttle, she was at the wave screen, deciding who to hail. She whipped around at the sudden disturbance and glared at him. "Mal! What do you want?" She was nearly shouting, but found she didn't care who heard.

"Who are you going to visit on Persephone?" He was a little breathless but recovered quickly as he continued, "It better not be Atherton Wing. This time I might be liable to kill the bastard."

She stood and met him in the middle of the space. "No, if you recall, he now has a black mark against his name and is unable to hire any companion." She forcefully held her ground, "And if you might also recall, who I do business with is none of yours."

Mal glanced over her shoulder at the faces on the screen, his frown deepening and his nostrils flaring. "Like the look of any of 'em? They all look slimy to me. And I've done business with a couple of 'em before." His gaze returned to meet hers, and his voice dropped in volume suddenly, "They ain't to be trusted, Inara."

Though she was surprised at his sincerity, nothing could douse the flames of her anger. She planted both her hands on his chest and shoved him back towards the door. "Get out. If that's how it is, I'll pack my things and stay in Persephone," she threatened. "Out!" Mal turned and stomped away, hearing the sound of the shuttle door clanging shut as if it were the door to his very soul.

* * *

_Thursday Afternoon_

"Hi Inara!" She smiled at the image of River that displayed on the screen at the console, so happy to see a friendly face.

"River, how are you? How's.." She hesitated, "..everyone?"

"I'm okay. Mal's still mad at you. But we're trying to make him not mad. What's happened to your face?"

Inara took a few seconds to digest what she'd just heard, before replying, "Oh, it's nothing serious. I'm sure Simon will be take a look when I get back. Could you send me the co-ordinates?"

River grinned, "Already did!" Inara smiled in return.

"See you soon then."

River turned as Mal walked onto the bridge, "That was Inara. She's on her way now, so we can go in an hour." He nodded and made to leave again. "She was hurt. She said it's not serious, but she was embarrassed about it."

Mal shifted his weight nervously, "You go ask Simon to be ready for when she arrives then." He flopped into the pilot chair, eyes darting around for something to focus on as River skipped away into the ship. Just this once the tables had turned; his deal had gone off just fine but hers hadn't and she was coming back hurt. He reached up to run his finger over the back of one of Wash's dinosaurs that they'd left on the console, and wondered what his friend would've advised him to do. The whole situation was beginning to wear him down and he knew something would happen soon that decided it one way or another.

He just had to make sure he was in control of his end of things.

* * *

_A/N: A new story when I should've been writing ongoing stories... sorry. But at least this one is completely finished!_


	2. It's risky, said experience

_Thursday evening_

It was after dinner when Kaylee announced, "Right, that's it! No boys allowed!" River shoved Simon, Mal and Jayne out of the canteen as Zoe came back in with a bottle she had stashed in her room. Inara took some cups over to the little table and the others joined her.

"I don't remember the last time we had a girls' night, Kaylee," Zoe smiled slightly.

"Yeah, I thought it was time, y'know?" Kaylee beamed happily. "And I wanna hear all about 'Nara's date!"

Inara ducked her head with a quiet laugh, "Kaylee, you know a companion doesn't kiss and tell."

"Tell us how you got that shiner instead then." Zoe raised her eyebrow at River's suggestion, but couldn't contain the interested hum that escaped her lips. Kaylee's eyes glittered, intrigued with the prospect of a story.

"Alright, fine... the gentleman was not gentle." She paused, long enough for Kaylee to start gesturing at her to keep going. "In fact, I'm just glad I insist on being paid up front."

River piped up, "Your story would be better if you started at the beginning." Zoe bit back her laughter.

"Yes," Inara gathered her thoughts, trying to put the whole episode with Mal warning her out of her head, "I was engaged to meet with Stephen S. Kelly, a businessman on Persephone, to attend a dinner with him. Everything was fine, until one of the other guests arrived, and of course, it was the same man that Mal punched last time we were there... Atherton Wing."

"Oh, him!" Zoe exclaimed. From the corner of her eye, she caught the shadows moving across the floor near the door, and flicked her gaze up to the window, but she couldn't see anyone there.

"Mm, him... so the fact that he'd also been stabbed by Mal meant that he didn't forget me too easily. And there I was, on the arm of another man." Inara sighed and shrugged. "He made a scene. Made free to call me a whore, and since I 'didn't have anyone to protect me'..." she moved her fingers in air-quotes and continued, "...he hit me."

Kaylee reached over and patted Inara's knee, the movement and her sympathetic noises almost masking the loud clunk that came from behind the door. Zoe snapped her awareness to the sound and caught a glimpse of the culprit slinking away. She filed the information away for later and when she brought her attention back to the women around her, the conversation had already moved on.

* * *

_Later, Thursday evening_

"Gorammit, Mal, why you askin' me? You know I ain't got no experience in keepin' a woman, don't remember th'last time I got one for more than a night!"

Mal couldn't help but laugh, "You finally admittin' to that, Jayne?" He leaned over the railing, looking down at the cargo bay. "Why can't it be black an' white? This sorta thing should be simple, but it ain't. If I screw this up, something goes wrong, I'm gonna regret it the rest of my life." He dropped his head into his hands and scruffed up his hair.

"Look, I don't see what you want me to say here. You an' Inara... we all just kinda assumed you'd both get round to it sometime but then y'never did an'..." Jayne shrugged, almost apologetic. "Y'ask me, you two jus' need to be locked in a small room together an' left to work things out."

"It may've slipped your notice, but I've got a ship to fly, so that ain't exactly convenient." He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself.

"Jus' go clean yer gun, that'll calm ya."

Mal groaned, "Get lost, Jayne."

Jayne gave him a light punch on the shoulder and left him alone in the cargo bay. Half an hour of solitude allowed a plan to formulate in his mind and he went to seek out some steadier advice.

He found the canteen doors open, so he walked through on his way to the bunks. He quietly called down the open hatch, "Zoe?" Her face appeared below and he gave her a lopsided smile. "You got a minute?"

"Sure, captain." He began to climb down the ladder to her cabin before she had a chance to make her way up it, closing the hatch on his way. "Must be serious, you closing a door... what's on your mind?"

"Same thing as always," he said testily, trying to decide on somewhere to sit before giving up and pacing the room. Zoe watched him carefully.

"You're gonna have to clarify that one, sir." He stopped pacing to glare at her for a moment before he started again.

"I've decided that I... we need to... she and I..." he let out a frustrated groan. She waited, knowing he would change tack and come at it from a different angle soon enough. She was right.

"How did you, with you and Wash, how did you know it? How did you know you loved him? That he loved you? How did it feel?"

She raised her eyebrow, "You're askin' me about feelings. Oh boy..." He huffed out a sigh with his hands on his hips and glared at her. "Alright, alright, give me a chance." She sat down at the little table and gestured to the other chair, the chair that her husband had always sat in. Mal hesitated for a moment, his hand on the back of it, before he joined her.

"You remember what I said, first time we met Wash? He had that stupid moustache that I hated..." She smiled fondly.

Mal chuckled, "He shaved that within twenty minutes of you sayin' you didn't like a man with facial hair."

"Took him that long?" They both laughed. "Mal, everyone loves differently. There's no right or wrong way. You just have to figure out exactly how you feel about her, and hope she is on the same page."

He shook his head, causing her to frown. "I thought love was supposed to be a good thing, Zoe. Why's it hurt so gorram much?" He rubbed his right hand across his chest as if soothing an ache.

She sighed sympathetically, "Because you're trying to keep it hidden, Mal. Stop fighting it."

"I told her before how she fogs things up. How she always has." He paused, folding his hands together at the table. "But I ain't never said those words to anyone before, what if I say it wrong or she don't say it back?"

Zoe shook her head calmly, "You won't say it wrong. And she will say it back. But I think you'll have to say more than 'I love you' to her. She'll expect you to explain yourself, how you came to your realisations, all that." She smiled, placing a hand on top of his. "It doesn't matter how you say it, what matters is that you got your courage to finally come out with it."

She took the slight smile that graced his lips as a victory, however small it may have been.


	3. It's pointless, said reason

_Friday morning_

Mal cleared his throat and knocked quietly on the wall outside the sickbay. "You got a moment, doc?"

Simon looked up from his papers and nodded, "Sure, Captain. How can I help?" Mal took a quick glance over his shoulder before he stepped into the room and closed the door. "Is it something serious?" Simon asked.

Mal pursed his lips and folded his arms defensively, shifting his weight uneasily. "It's, uh... how do you..." He cleared his throat again and Simon waited patiently for Mal to gather his thoughts. "If you were wanting to, uh, _woo_ a lady, a beautiful, classy lady, how... how would you go about that?"

Simon looked at Mal as if he'd suddenly grown an extra head. "You're asking me for advice. Me." He seemed shocked at the notion.

"Well, yeah." Mal continued to fidget nervously, reaching to scratch his ear.

Simon nodded once in reply and moved over to the bench to sit down. "Is there a particular beautiful – and did you say classy? – lady that you had in mind?" A teasing twinkle was in his eye and Mal growled.

"If you're gonna be like that, I'm leavin'," he said as he crossed towards the door.

"Mal, wait," Simon smiled. "I don't mean to pry, but I'm pretty sure everyone on this ship knows who you have in mind." Mal sighed and went over to sit opposite Simon on the cot. "And therefore, I'll start with this: have you looked in a mirror lately?"

Mal looked up, confused and indignant, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means what it sounds like. Have you?" Mal shrugged in reply. "You've let your hair grow in the last year, your chin looks like the rear end of a horse, and when the hell was the last time you washed?"

"Hey! I cleaned up the other day, before the last job!"

"That was four days ago, Mal."

"Oh. Right." He lifted his arm to sniff at whatever odour might have been trapped in his arm pit and blinked a couple of times. "Might have a point there, doc."

"So you have to prove you can take care of yourself before you have any hope of proving you can take care of her." Simon shrugged, "But realistically, she's not a woman who needs taking care of, not in any kind of traditional way."

Mal frowned, "How d'you mean?"

"I mean, she's a businesswoman, she's independent, she doesn't want for much. So you maybe need to consider that her needs are more emotionally driven rather than materially."

Mal nodded slowly, digesting Simon's words as best he could. "I'm gonna go make sure your sister's got us pointin' in the right direction." He stood and smiled at Simon, "Thanks, doc."

"You're welcome, Captain." Simon returned to his papers and Mal strode away to the bridge.

* * *

Kaylee tiptoed up the steps to Inara's shuttle and peeked around the curtain. She smiled when she saw Inara facing away from the door, humming gently as she brushed her hair.

Serenity's mechanic jumped out from behind the curtain and shouted, "Boo!" Inara casually turned around and smiled indulgently at Kaylee.

"Hello to you too."

"Oh, what? You weren't scared?" Kaylee flopped onto the sofa with a huff of disappointment.

"No, sorry. I heard your boots on the boardwalk. I can tell who's coming to my shuttle by the sound of their gait. Except River, I sometimes wonder if she floats."

"I wouldn't be surprised!"

The women sat in companionable silence for a while until Inara finished brushing her hair. She turned to Kaylee with a smile, holding up her hairbrush. "Your turn?" Kaylee nodded gladly and Inara joined her on the couch.

Barely two minutes passed before Kaylee began the conversation she had actually come to Inara's shuttle for.

"'Nara, can I ask you a question?" Inara hummed an affirmative reply. "What's going on with Mal? He's been so.. so pissed off this week. He shouted at me. He never shouts at me."

"Oh, Kaylee..." She smoothed her hand over her friend's hair as she tried to comfort her.

"I want to fix it, but I don't know how." Inara nodded sympathetically as Kaylee continued, plaintively, "How can I fix it?"

Inara sighed, "I don't know. It's... he was... we had an argument before we landed on Persephone, about the clients I may or may not have been visiting. He saw the wave screen with them on and warned me that there were some he'd had dealings with, who were not to be trusted." She took a deep breath and placed her hand on Kaylee's shoulder before continuing, "Seems he was right..."

Kaylee turned to face Inara, who was pensively gazing at the hair brush in her lap. "Kinda funny for Mal to be right for a change, huh?" She gave Inara a nudge and they both laughed.

Kaylee narrowed her eyes and decided to plough onto the thrust of what she wanted to know. "If you and Mal got together, what would you do about bein' a companion?"

Inara's mask slipped for a second before she regained her composure, but Kaylee noticed her momentary surprise and tilted her head to the side with silent shrewdness. "Well, after this latest incident, I wonder if it's time to retire. Settle down and do something else." Inara shrugged, "Isn't it a pointless question to ask though? Mal and I have proved countless times that we'll never get it together, so..."

Kaylee just nodded and shrugged. 'Never' might be too strong a word sometime soon, she thought.

* * *

"Can I cut your hair? Can I? Can I?" River was almost bouncing with excitement.

Mal stopped in the doorway of the bridge and rolled his eyes. "Do you listen in on every conversation that happens on this boat?"

"No."

"...well, alright then." He sat down at the helm and checked the screens in front of him. "Yes, you can cut my hair. Don't take too much off this time though, it was too short the last time you did it."

"Yay!" River jumped up and positively bounced out of the bridge, returning a few minutes later with a comb and a pair of scissors tucked in her pocket, and a stool in her hand. "Come on, can't do it up here, you know that."

Mal stood and reached for the radio, "Zoe? Can you come up to the bridge please?" River didn't wait for Zoe to get there, she grabbed Mal's hand and pulled him along behind her into the canteen. Zoe walked through the room just as River put the stool down with a loud clang and shoved Mal to sit on it, and she stifled a giggle. "Don't start, Zoe," Mal warned her with a glare, but she raised her hand to cover the huge grin and they could hear her laughing as she reached the bridge.

"Ready?" River asked from behind Mal.

"Yeah, I'm ready." He sat still, waiting for River to start combing his hair, totally not expecting the deluge of lukewarm water that flowed over his head. "What the-?! River!"

"What? Your hair was wet last time, it's easier to cut like this," she stated, matter-of-factly.

Mal moved his long fringe to one side to glare at her but it had no effect. It never did. She just giggled at him with a shake of her head and went to work.

* * *

Following his soaking and subsequent shearing, Mal returned to his cabin. He stripped off his wet shirt and laid his best pants – or rather, the ones with the fewest holes – along with a dark blue shirt out on the bunk, and grabbed the boot polish and cleaning rag out from a cubby hole. He sat on the edge of his bunk and spent a good half an hour tending to his boots. It gave him time to think, time to _not_ think, time to get lost in the action of his hands, time to consider what would follow in the not too distant future.

He was a man of action, not of words, and it was at this moment he wished it were the other way round. He was beginning to feel the pressure and decided to focus on the next part of his preparation instead of the way his stomach was beginning to churn. He put the boots down on the floor and stepped across the room to take a shower, Simon's words still ringing in his ears making him feel a little ashamed, even more so when he could see how dirty the water was as it disappeared down the drain.

He stood under the water for a while, letting it wash away the fear that prickled the backs of his eyes like unshed tears, until his fingers wrinkled. Turning the faucet off, he reached for his towel and dried off before he wrapped it around his waist and went over to the mirror to shave the week-old beard that had appeared on his face without him realising. He briefly considered leaving a moustache there, remembering what Zoe and he had laughed about the day before. He let a fleeting smile creep across his face before he soaped over the stubble and began to shave.

* * *

Having dressed, Mal stood in front of the mirror, fiddling with his hair, his collar, his cuffs. His hair again. Anything to take his mind off what he was about to do.

He was about to tell Inara exactly how he felt about her. No, that didn't sound right. He was about to tell Inara that he loved her to utter distraction. No, that didn't sound right either. He was about to go and talk to the love of his life.

Shit. Why was this so hard? Surely this – telling someone, anyone, that you love them – should be the simplest thing, the most beautiful moment, in his life? But maybe that was the problem, he was building it up in his mind when the outcome was almost totally out of his control.

Time to stop prolonging the torture. With a final nod to his reflection, he strode to the step ladder and swung his way up to the corridor. He took a moment to look over his shoulder and wondered at how quiet Serenity was in that moment. River was at the helm, and she turned to meet his gaze with a smile and a twinkle in her eye. He couldn't help but smile back before he straightened his shoulders and walked down the corridor towards the canteen.

The sight that greeted him as he stepped through the door and down the first step gave him pause. The smile that River had put on his face slipped away as he found the rest of the crew, Zoe and Jayne cleaning their guns at the table, Kaylee and Simon sitting in an intimate silence sharing a book. As one, they looked up at him and he shifted his gaze warily as he continued his journey through to the boardwalk in the cargo bay. He felt his stomach lurch, the nerves beginning to make him nauseous.

Mal walked carefully along the grating, stopping for a moment outside the opening to Inara's shuttle. He shut his eyes and took a deep breath, exhaling it sharp and fast, his eyes springing back open. His mind was clear, his heart was open.

He knocked.


	4. Give it a try, whispered the heart

She'd heard Mal's boots clipping along the boardwalk towards her shuttle, and Inara steeled herself for the inevitable moment when he walked straight in. But what happened next caused her to doubt her own hearing.

He knocked.

In an uncertain voice, she called out, "Who is it?" She heard him clear his throat before he answered.

"It's me, Mal. Can... Can I come in?"

"I'm not minded to talk to you right now, Captain."

Her edgy tone didn't inspire any confidence in Mal and he stood silently at the door for almost a minute, trying to decide what to do. Walking away with his head held high certainly ranked quite highly on the list of possibilities, but he felt like it was something of a 'now or never' situation.

He knocked again.

"Mal..." Inara's voice warned him that this may not have been the best course of action, but he ploughed on.

"Inara," he took a deep breath and tried to sound determined. "Please." It ended up more gruff than he'd intended, and the silence from within stretched out into minutes. Mal felt his throat begin to tighten and he took another deep breath, which was more like a sob. He sank to his knees and held his head in his hands as he repeated his last two words like a fervent whispered prayer.

From within the shuttle, Inara waged an internal battle over whether to leave him alone to his misery on her doorstep or to take pity and pull him inside. She tiptoed to the curtain and peeked around without making a sound. Mal was still there, now silent, but it was the crowd of crew gathered at the canteen door that made up her mind. He didn't need them to see him like this any longer.

Inara quickly moved around the curtain, got her arm under his and nudged him inside. She caught a glimpse of his awestruck face, eyelashes damp with tears he hadn't bothered to wipe away. She hit the button to close the door and they were finally alone. She led him to sit on the plush cushions of the sofa before she moved to opposite on the bed.

Mal couldn't believe it, he was sitting alone with Inara and they weren't fighting. Admittedly, they weren't talking either, but still. He managed to shift the shock off his face, and when he did he saw her lips quirk upwards for the briefest of smiles.

"The crew were watching," she offered. He nodded and wiped his hands over his face, rubbing his eyes and mussing his hair. Inara suddenly realised it was shorter than it had been when she had last seen him the night before, and that led her to take in the rest of his appearance: neat, tidy, clean, and the merest hint of a spicy musk that she attributed to a cologne she didn't know he owned. "Why are you here, Mal?"

He looked at her carefully as he formulated a response, taking in the way her hair curled over her bare shoulder and the sumptuous deep purple silk that draped over the other, the way her dress was gathered at the waist with an ornate gold belt before it flared away, nothing else visible but only implied. His gaze moved back to her face and their eyes met and held, and he wondered if he'd ever truly let himself look at her before. She was so beautiful, even as she raised her eyebrows at him. Right, her question. Time to just say it, he thought.

"Inara, I..." He broke eye contact to watch his hands he clasped them together. "I told you once that you fog things up. An' I know that I could've said it nicer or put it differently, but at the time that's what I saw it as. But I've been thinking, a lot lately, about what I said and what I need to say." He took a deep breath while she didn't seem to be able to breathe at all.

"I... I care about you, Inara. An' I'm sick of fighting for you only to lose you to some rich _h__úndàn_ every time."

Inara's face dropped. In some ways she'd hoped that he would waltz in there and claim her for his own, but when she actually heard it in his own words she couldn't stop her reaction.

"You... fight for me? Who says I want to be fought for? Or that I even want _you_ to fight for me?" She stood up suddenly and began to pace back and forth, her voice rising with every word, "I mean, really, Mal? Don't you think I can look after myself?"

He rose quickly and stopped her pacing, blocking her path. His voice matched hers as he replied, "That's _goushi_ and you know it, Inara! I know you can take care of yourself but maybe sometimes you might appreciate having someone close to lean on, don't you ever think about that? Someone who'll be here no matter where your work takes you?" He grasped her upper arms with a firm but gentle grip, his voice lowering to a hoarse whisper. "Let me be that someone for you. Please, Inara... please."

As they locked gazes, he could tell she wouldn't soften or let him in and he decided to say the words that had been rolling around his head for quite a few months now.

"I love you," he breathed, the words barely above a whisper.

Inara gasped, her eyes searching his and finding only truth and love, as if he couldn't stop it from leaking from his very soul. He nervously let go of her arms to gently rub his fingers up and down where his palms had been, and she reached up to fiddle with his shirt at his waist, wanting to touch him but suddenly unsure of where to begin.

Falling in love wasn't exactly covered in companion training after all, apart from how to avoid it. And Inara wasn't sure that she wanted to avoid this at all. Mal took half a step towards her and her fingers connected to his body, the shirt between their skin seeming like no barrier at all to the heat they were sharing.

"Mal," she whispered, not wanting to break the fragile spell that had fallen over them. "I don't know how to do this."

"Do what?" He felt stupid for having to ask but he really didn't know what else to say. Why hadn't she said 'I love you' back?

"To... be in love."

He could barely contain his smile. "Me either." A wide smile grew across her face, and they stood there in an almost-embrace just grinning at each other until Mal's gaze flicked down to her lips for the briefest of seconds.

A lifelong interpreter of human body language, Inara needed no other sign and no more encouragement. She lifted onto her tiptoes, bringing her body closer to his, and she watched his long eyelashes brush his cheeks before their lips met softly, tentatively, the merest touch of a kiss before they allowed the air to separate them again. Mal moved his hands from her arms to settle at her waist and she let her fingers trail up his torso to rest on his chest. He leaned down and captured her lips again, this time with passion, and he couldn't stop himself from winding his arms tightly around her as if he would never let go. He wasn't sure that he actually ever wanted to let go, and she didn't seem to want him to either. Her fingers were running though his hair, nails lightly scratching his scalp. Why had they waited so long for this, she thought, all those wasted years they could have held each other. As the thought came to her she sobbed and he immediately pulled away, his hand leaving her back to caress her cheek.

"Inara, what's wrong?" His voice was gruff and thick with emotion. He'd never reduced a woman to tears by kissing her before.

She moved her arms to wrap around his shoulders and her nose nudged his ear lobe. She could feel the creases on his forehead as he frowned. Inara whispered in his ear, "We wasted so much time fighting this, Mal. How could we have been so blind?"

He hugged her tightly and gave the only answer he could think of, "We were afraid is all." He pulled back to look her in the eye. "I ain't afraid anymore." They smiled shyly at each other as he bent down to kiss her again, but as their lips touched the intercom crackled.

"Sorry Captain, but you're needed on the bridge." Zoe's voice echoed in the shuttle.

Mal and Inara leant their foreheads together and shared a heavy sigh. "We can continue this later, Captain."

He chuckled, "You can bet on it, _tiánxīn_." She swatted him on the shoulder and let him go, though reluctantly. He made it as far as the door before running back to steal another kiss from her, and she laughed as she told him to go already.


	5. Epilogue

_Friday evening_

"This is quite a spread, Kaylee, we celebratin' something?" Jayne cast his hungry eye over the table in the canteen, pretty certain it was groaning under the weight of all the food.

"Hmm, maybe..." she had a twinkle in her eye, and a slight smile that wouldn't disappear. She moved over to the intercom and opened all the channels to announce dinner, "Grub's up!"

Sounds filtered up from throughout Serenity as the crew downed tools and made their way up to eat. Kaylee and Jayne sat opposite each other in the middle of the long table and waited with varying degrees of patience. Simon arrived next and sat by Kaylee's right, kissing her as he did so. Zoe came up from the cargo bay and sat by Jayne, closely followed by Inara, who took Kaylee's left-hand side. River bounced through from the bridge and sat opposite Simon.

"Captain said to start without him, he's on his way back, should be hailing in ten minutes."

"Good, I'm starving!"

"Jayne, you're always starving," Zoe shook her head at him.

* * *

_Earlier that day..._

"And you want to pay me in stones?" Mal was honestly trying not to sound incredulous, really he was, but it was kind of difficult to get his head into business mode when he'd been wrenched away from kissing a beautiful woman – _his _beautiful woman – only moments before.

"Not just any stones, Captain," the woman on the wave screen replied, "There are antique diamonds from Earth That Was." The woman lifted a fist-sized bag up to show him before she took one of the stones out of the bag to hold up to the camera. "If you can get down here to pick me up in the next hour, there's another hundred credits in it for you."

"Well, why didn't you say so before? Send the co-ordinates and I'll be there myself in half an hour."

Mal didn't much like being a taxi service, but this was a journey he could do in the spare shuttle without any trouble whatsoever. With a quick word to Zoe, making sure she knew where he was going and when he should be back in case he needed rescuing, he set off.

Having picked the woman up from a discrete spot outside Persephone's capital, Mal pointed the shuttle towards one of the nearby moons. He took care not to ask too many questions, and the woman took care not to reveal too much. That she was running from someone was plainly obvious, and Mal didn't want to get anymore in the way than he already had. As they touched down on the moon, the woman handed over the bag of diamonds she'd shown him previously, as well as the promised credits. Mal wished her luck and hightailed it back to Serenity, not wanting to miss Kaylee's cooking. River hailed him in time for him to hear Kaylee's ship-wide announcement, and he gave her his position, telling her not to let the food go cold on his account.

He took a look in the bag of diamonds, eyebrows rising at the sparkles glinting up at him. He poked around in the bag and found something that didn't feel the same as the rest of it, more metallic. He pulled it out to take a closer look. It was a ring, a round solitaire diamond set on a gold band. This was a rarity, the sort of thing that was now handed down through families rather than bought new, and Mal briefly wondered why the woman had given him this family heirloom. The proximity alarm sounded on the console, pulling him from his thoughts. He shoved the ring into his pocket and closed the bag up before hailing River to dock the shuttle back onto the ship.

* * *

"Wow Kaylee, what're we celebratin'?" Mal exclaimed as he came in from the shuttle. Kaylee laughed, confusing him. "What?"

"That's exactly what Jayne said when he came in too, Cap," she grinned. "And now you're here, maybe you can tell us what we're celebratin'." She glanced between Mal and Inara with a subtlety the latter would've been proud of if she hadn't found her dinner plate so suddenly fascinating.

Mal laughed nervously and sat in the seat nearest him at the opposite end of the table to where he usually sat. "Why're you sittin' there, Mal?" Jayne asked around a mouthful of food.

"Uh..." Mal looked like a deer caught in the head lights as he fumbled for an answer. He cleared his throat as he glanced at Inara, "Felt it was time for a change, is all." She looked up at him and their eyes met until Mal was jostled by Jayne reaching over Zoe with Mal's plate.

"Well, here, hurry up so's the rest of us can have seconds!"

Mal stared at Jayne in disbelief, "Can it be that Jayne Cobb has learned him some manners?" Simon snorted, and Jayne wasn't sure who to glare at when everyone else started laughing too.

When it had quietened down a bit River asked Mal about the job he'd just returned from, and he told them about the mystery woman and the slightly unusual payment. "I'm pretty sure she was a companion, but she didn't tell me an' I didn't ask. Hell, she didn't even tell me her name," he explained to everyone, before turning to Inara. "Maybe you could reach out to the Guild, see if you can find out if she's okay an' stuff." Inara nodded and crossed her right knee over her left, hooking her right foot behind Mal's right knee, earning a look of surprise until he saw the pleased smile on her face. He finished his food and casually reached below the table to rub his thumb over her ankle bone and returned her smile.

As the conversation carried on around them, she leaned over to whisper to him, "Can it be that Malcolm Reynolds has a heart after all?" She had a twinkle in her eye and he chuckled as he leaned in to mirror her pose.

"Well, you should know, you've had the key to it for a long time now..." Inara went slack-jawed as his line sank in, and he pressed his thumb to the soft skin below her ankle bone to bring her focus back. She smiled sweetly at him, a blush rising to her cheeks as he watched.

Kaylee cleared her throat and Mal's own cheeks reddened as he realised that everyone was watching their interaction. "So, do you two have something you want to share with the rest of us?" Kaylee asked sweetly. River was grinning from ear to ear, and the others' expressions ranged from pleased to ecstatic. Mal sighed, he and Inara hadn't even really decided between themselves what was going on and the whole crew suspected something had changed. He glanced at Inara and found she too was looking at him, but with something akin to determination. He decided to really give them all something to think about.

"In the bag of diamonds from Earth That Was that the woman gave me was this..." he pulled the ring out of his pocket and the light brought out the sparkles within the stone. "I believe it was a custom back there to give a ring like this to someone when you loved them an' wanted to make it more official like." He turned to look at Inara before he continued, "So, when are you going to make an honest woman out of Kaylee, Simon?" He smiled over at the two of them as Simon's mouth gaped open wide and Kaylee couldn't stop grinning until she too rounded on her boyfriend.

"Yeah, Simon, when're you gonna make me honest?"

With the rest of the crew's attention diverted, Mal slipped his hand back under the table to its resting place on Inara's leg. When she glanced over to him he gave her a wink before he nudged her leg to dislodge her foot from behind his knee. He got up and walked around the table to clap Simon on the shoulder. "No pressure..." he shrugged and handed the ring over before heading out of the canteen and down to his bunk.

* * *

After a quick tidy-up of his room Mal dug some incense out from a box and lit it, before he filled a basin with hot water and put that with a couple of towels on his table. He straightened out the blanket on his bunk and then crossed to the steps to poke his head out. He could hear River and Zoe on the bridge, and the others were all in the canteen still, having cleared away after dinner. Inara looked away from Kaylee and Simon for a moment and blinked as she noticed Mal watching her. He lifted his chin and nodded his head towards his room before he disappeared, hoping she'd understood his message.

A few minutes of pacing up and down his room later, he heard the swish of her silk dress as she hurried down the ladder. He closed the hatch when she made it to the bottom, "Did anyone see you?"

"I don't think so," she smiled at him and looked around at the candle-lit room. She noticed the steaming bowl of water and looked at Mal questioningly.

"Can I... would you... uh," he cleared his throat and tried again, "I could wash your feet for you, if you'd like." She was about to answer when he carried on, "I know it's something you do for clients sometimes but I didn't know if anyone ever does it in return and that seemed a poor deal to me so I was wondering if-" She cut him off with a swift kiss before she pulled away.

"That's really sweet of you, Mal. That you even thought of it... but you don't need to do that, really."

He looked a little hurt at her rejection, "Let me take care of you, Inara. I don't want you to ever feel like you need to run away like that poor woman today. I want you to be happy." He was so sincere it took her breath away. She stepped into his embrace, leaning her forehead on his chest as he kissed her hair.

"I am happy, Mal," she looked up at him and smiled. "I am." She rose on her tiptoes to kiss him and the bowl of water sat forgotten on the table as they tasted one another, like people lost in the desert who were finally quenching their thirst at an oasis.

She pulled him gently towards the bunk and began to unbutton his shirt as they lay down together, their lips never breaking contact. He didn't want to ever stop kissing her, but suddenly she pulled away and she had to be careful not to laugh as his distraught face.

"Mal, we need to talk about my work."

He frowned, "What, now?"

"Yes, now." He nodded and moved to sit next to her on the edge of the bunk. "Mal, I don't ever want you to think that you're just some guy, just another client, to me. I... I think it's fair to say we've both been through a lot, more than most people have to go through in a lifetime, and I don't want to do it along any more. I want to go through it all together." She picked his hand up and cradled it with both of her own in her lap. "I've been thinking about it for the last few days and I think I'm going to retire from the profession. If you ever want to stop flying and settle somewhere, maybe I could set up a school, but..."

She looked up at him for the first time since she'd spoken and found a look of alarm, love, and concern on his face. "Inara, don't give up your work on my account... What would you do for money? What if you got resentful of me because you didn't work any more and it was because of me?" She opened her mouth to reply but shut it again when she realised she didn't have any answers. "Would I prefer it if I could make a proper home for us? Yes, course I would, same goes for everyone on this boat. But right now, all I can offer is Serenity and a swift blow to the head to anyone who dares insult you. Including myself if you tell me to." He sighed deeply, "Is that enough?"

"If it means there gets to be an 'us', then yes, it's enough." They rested their foreheads together.

"Can we carry this conversation over to later?" Mal asked quietly.

"Mhm... why?"

"You and I have a pressing engagement with a bowl of hot water that is going cold. Ain't there some etiquette about the temperature?"

Inara smirked, "You want to sign up for my companion school?"

"Oh yeah, if you're teaching I'll sit at the front of the class."

"But would you listen?"

"Eh... sometimes."

Inara just grinned in reply.


End file.
